Business Law Ch.5 T/F

In general, China punishes government officials convicted of accepting bribes less severely than the US.

F China passed a new law whereby officials found guilty of extortion and accepting bribes are subject to life imprisonment or possibly put to death.

Under current law, corporations cannot be held criminally accountable for strict-liability offenses.

F Courts began to impose liability on corporations for strict-liability offenses, those offenses that do not require state of mind.

Under our criminal laws that exist today, white-collar crime is not punishable by imprisonment.

F Incarceration has been mandated for certain types of white-collar crimes.

Extortion is another name for the crime of bribery.

F Often confused with bribery, but completely different, is the crime of extortion otherwise known as blackmail.

Under the common law, a corporation could not be considered a criminal because it was not an actual person and, thus, did not have a mind.

T

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prohibits foreign officials from entering the U.S. to conduct illegal business.

F The FCPA prohibits payments to foreign officials to corruptly influence an official act or decision or to influence a foreign government.

The primary purpose of criminal law is to compensate victims.

F The purpose of criminal law is to punish an offender for causing harm to public health, safety, or morals.

If a prosecutor decides not to go forward with a case, the defendant may still be liable for his or her actions in civil court.

T

Molly was found not guilty in a criminal prosecution for murder, but she could be found liable in a civil proceeding involving the same facts.

T

Penny planned to spray paint her ex-boyfriend's new car and other vehicles in his neighborhood, but was apprehended by a quick thinking police officer in the neighborhood just before she started spraying. The officer, new to the job, forgot to read Penny her Miranda rights. The prosecutor should rely on the "public safety" exception to the requirement that Miranda rights be read.

T